Independent Judging Panel

Kimberley Brew

Kim began her Insurance career in 1996 as a clerk with QBE Insurance. Over the next 4 years, she gained valuable insurance experience and knowledge to become an Underwriter.

In 2000, wanting to further her career, Kim joined Alan Wilson Insurance Brokers as an Account Manager. With hard work and dedication to her job, she quickly became the Senior Account Manager and is now the General Manager running the business on a daily basis. Kim is also a board member of Alan Wilson Insurance Brokers.

During her time with AWIB, Kim has studied obtaining her Diploma of Financial Services (Insurance Broking), her Senior Associate CIP of the Australian & New Zealand Institute of Insurance and Finance and her qualifications as a Qualified Practicing Insurance Broker (QPIB).

In 2005, Kim won the Regional Insurance Broker Association Norm Dyer Award of Excellence at the age of 24.

Kim was involved in the establishment of the FPA Australia Insurance Scheme from inception in 2004 and continues to assist and develop the scheme today.

In 2016, Kim was one of the 4 inaugural judges of the Fire Protection Industry Awards. 

Stephen Kip

Stephen Kip has been a Director of SKIP Consulting, an engineering and regulatory consultancy firm for the past 10 years. Prior to that he has held senior engineering positions with Warrington Fire Research (now Exova Warrington Fire) and the Building Research Association of New Zealand (BRANZ) and was the deputy to the Building Commissioner at the Building Control Commission in Victoria, Australia.

He has been involved in reviewing, researching and drafting of building regulations and was closely involved in the development of the performance based Building Code of Australia 1996, in particular the fire performance requirements of the BCA and establishment of post graduate training programs for regulatory authorities and fire engineers.

He holds a Masters Degree in Engineering and has additional post graduate qualifications in Fire Safety Engineering and Building Project Management. He is a Fellow of Engineers Australia, an Honorary Fellow of the University of Melbourne School of Architecture and Building, an Adjunct Associate Professor of the school of Engineering and Science at Victoria University, a member of the Emergency Management Commission of Victoria's Bushfire Construction Advisory Panel, and a former member of the Victorian Building Appeals Board. 

Barry Lee

Mr Lee’s involvement with the industry began “quite by accident” when, while studying mechanical engineering and working for an elevator company, he was assigned to investigate an interface problem at a company called Wormald.  He soon discovered Wormald “were into all sorts of interesting things beyond sprinkler systems, including what we now call special hazards systems”.

Mr Lee’s career with Wormald took him from Melbourne to Sydney and even to China in 1974. He has worked on some of the most complex and cutting-edge fire protection and special hazards systems in the world, including gaseous fire extinguishing systems on US Navy guided missile frigates and at a low-frequency radio station in the North West Cape of Western Australia, which was used to communicate with missile-carrying submarines during the Cold War.

As well as this ground-breaking and highly technical work, Mr Lee has always taken the time to contribute to his industry outside of his day-to-day activities. The list of industry groups he has been involved with is staggering.

Wayne Welson

Feeling privileged to again sit on the judging panel for these prestigious awards, Wayne has over 25 years’ trans-Tasman experience involving with the fire protection industry. Undertaking various roles within a multinational fire protection organisation in both New Zealand and Australia, has enabled Wayne to develop a broad technical knowledge across many streams within the fire protection industry. Acquiring and maintaining his passion for fire protection in both countries has also enabled him to achieve end user management positions overseeing fire protection systems, contractors and general fire safety in the healthcare, high hazard manufacturing, hotel and casino industries.

Currently working as a Risk Specialist for Vero Insurance, his role involves consulting on and auditing fire protection systems as well as client’s business resilience. With the support of Vero, Wayne currently sits on a fire protection advisory group to a state regulator representing the Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) and has also previously served on the FPA Australia Queensland Committee. Accompanying Vero’s FPA Australia corporate membership, Wayne has also maintained his individual membership for a number of years.